The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) and Visible Light Communications Consortium (VLCC) Announces Complimentary Research and Development Effort

2008-09-04 23:58:03 -

- The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) which establishes infrared standards that provide convenient wireless connectivity and the Visible Light Communications Consortium (VLCC) which is working on research, development, and the standardization of safe visible light communications (VLC) announce a cooperative agreement between the two organizations. This agreement recognizes the synergies between the organizations and the potential to cooperate in the

promotion of optoelectronic technologies such as infrared and visible light communications.

This agreement allows both organizations to further research practical applications driving optoelectronic implementations in such devices as consumer mobile devices (cell phones, cameras), lighting apparatus, traffic signals, indicator lights, video displays, cars and toll booths. "We are very excited about the possibilities of this joint cooperation. With both technologies in the optoelectronic spectrum, we are looking forward to mutual development to complement each other and provide new applications to advance the industry," said Daphne Terrell, Executive Director, IrDA.

Chairman of VLCC, Professor Masao Nakagawa of Keio University, said, "By combining the widely used cellular phone IrDA technology and the new visible light communication technology, we expect a new standard of very user-friendly communication system."

On Wednesday, October 22, 2008 IrDA will conduct an optoelectronic conference in Tokyo followed on the 23rd by its October General meeting. On Friday October 24, 2008 VLCC will be conducting their Fall General meeting in Tokyo.

About IrDA

IrDA (www.irda.org) is an International Organization formed in 1993 and is dedicated to creating global, interoperable, low-cost infrared technology specification standards. Current market data from the IrDA Market Report 2008 verifies the global proliferation of IrDA IR enabled devices. To date, over 1 billion IrDA products have been shipped. As a result of the recent completion of IrSimple version 1.0 and with new advances in technology for Giga-IR, demand for IrDA products is estimated to grow substantially.

About VLCC:

Visible Light Communications Consortium(VLCC) was founded in 2003 to research, develop, plan, standardize the visible light communication system in Japan. VLCC's standardization activities resulted in the JEITA standards (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) as "visible light ID system" in 2007, and has been preparing to propose visible light communication standards for various applications. For more information about visible light technology, see www.vlcc.net/e/.

IrDA
Daphne Terrell, 925-944-2933
Executive Director
daphne@irda.org
or
VLCC
Tom Matsumura, (813)5437-5122 (Japan)
Executive Director
tom@gci.co.jp